Diddy Kong Racing DS

Diddy Kong Racing DS is an enhanced Nintendo DS port of the game Diddy Kong Racing. Diddy Kong Racing DS is Rare's first Nintendo DS game.

Story

File:Diddy-kong-racing-intro.jpg

The Kongs agree to help in their fight with Wizpig.

When his parents go on vacation, Timber is left to care for the family island, Timber's Island. Unfortunatly, an evil, magic-weilding alien-pig named Wizpig invades the island and, brainwashing Tricky the Triceratops, Bluey the Walrus, Bubbler the Octopus and Smokey the Dragon, begins to take over the island and evicting people like Taj the Genie and Pipsy from their homes.

The island's fastest racer, Drumstick, challenges Wizpig to a race, only to dissapear without a trace after doing so. In desperation, Timber sends a letter to his friend Diddy Kong asking for help. Accepting Timber's plea, Diddy, calling several allies such as Dixie Kong, his girlfriend, Tiny Kong, Dixie's sister, Tiptup, a clumsy turtle, Bumper, down and dirty driver and Krunch, a Kremling Krew spy, sets-off to Timber's Island to take-down Wizpig....

With help from Taj and T.T. Diddy manages to beat Tricky, Bluey, Bubbler and Smokey in races and snap them out-of Wizpig's brainwashing. Drumstick, who had been turned into a frog by Wizpig, is also returned to normal.

His reluctant minions defeated, Wizpig is next challenged by Diddy Kong and his friends. After a long and grueling race, Wizpig is defeated and a victory celebration is held. Unfortunatly, Wizpig crashes the party.

Following the evil alien to his home planet of Future Fun Land, a death-trap amusement park, Diddy Kong and his friends manage to get past all of Wizpig's challenges and get a rematch with the rocket-riding Wizpig. After a tough race, Wizpig is beaten and, his rocket malfunctioning, crashes into a deserted planet and becomes stranded.

Returning to Timber's Island, another celebration is held, Wizpig having been beaten for good and his hold-over on the island gone.

Playable Characters

• Diddy Kong
• Dixie Kong
• Tiny Kong
• Timber
• Bumper
• Tiptup
• Pipsy
• Krunch
• Drumstick (unlockable)
• T.T. (unlockable)
• Taj (unlockable)
• Wizpig (unlockable)

Non-Playable Characters

• Tricky
• Bubbler
• Bluey
• Smokey

"Alakazam!"

Taj the Genie is the caretaker of the island and will gladly be of assistance and training. Taj wil appear every time a racer gains ten Golden Ballons and will set challenges. He also takes care of rewards and unlockables. Taj will allow you to paint your vehicle for free, but he has a few expensive items in his tent on the center court yard facing the Wizpig statue head. He calls it his "Wishes Menu":

Wishes Menu Costs File:Wishes.jpg Taj's Wishes Menu main screen
Vehicle Upgrades
#	Item	Coin Cost	What it Does
1	Basic Downforce	50	Minor Help in handling and corning of one's vehicle of choice
2	Downforce A & Downforce B	Both are 100	Major improvement in handling and cornering of one's vehicle of choice
3	Basic Sprint	50	Minor Help in acceleration of one's vehicle of choice
4	Sprint A & Sprint B	Both are 100	Major improvement in acceleration of one's vehicle of choice
5	Basic Air	50	Minor Help in speed of one's vehicle of choice
6	Air A & Air B	Both are 100	Major improvement in speed of one's vehicle of choice
7	Standard Custom	50	Minor handling sacrificing for top speed and a custom look
8	Custom A & Custom B	Both are 100	Major speed improvement and a great custom look. Handling is sacraficed and his shrunk down to poor stats.
Unlockables
#	Item	Coin Cost	What it Does
1	Thunder Cove	80	A New Track
2	Meandering Mount	80	A New Track
3	Splashdown Pass	80	A New Track
4	Strangled Shrine	80	A New Track
5	Coin Challenge & Coin Challenge Mirror	20	Major part of the N64 original, the racer races through all the tracks, collecting 8 silver coins, and it is required to come in first place to win this challenge.
6	Sp Wish Race (Single Player) & Multi Wish Race (Multiplayer)	50	Race on your custom tracks with T.T. as your guide
7	Battle Track 1 (Fire Mountain)	30	One of the original Battle areas in the N64 classic, the racer tries to gather three eggs and hatch them from atop a volcano first. (Multiplayer only)
8	Battle Track 2 (Icicle Pyramid)	30	One of the original Battle areas in the N64 classic, the racer tries to strike down their rivals in a huge ice temple. If the racer loses all their bananas they will lose.
9	Battle Track 3 (Darkwater Beach)	30	One of the original Battle areas in the N64 classic, the racer tries to strike down their rivals in a big dark water lake with small sand island-like platforms. The objective to win is similar to Icicle Pyramid, if the racer loses all their bananas they will lose.
10	Battle Track 4 (Smokey Castle)	30	One of the original Battle areas in the N64 classic. The objective to win is similar to Fire Mountain. The racer has to fill their nest with silver coins instead of bananas.
11	Billboard Editor	50	The racer can fill the racetracks and courses with their own artwork.
12	Sound Recorder	50	The racer can record their own sound effects through the touch screen

Lakes, Tracks and Automobiles

Key

C = Car The Car is the standard vehicle of choice in most courses and is easiest to handle.
H = Hovercraft The Hovercraft swerves in on and off track , and can be argued as the hardest to handle at times.
P = Plane The Plane is smooth and steady and can be a true vehicle and a nightmare in some senses. Its hard to get back in the running if the racer is hit with a missile or falls fate to a bubble.

• CarBumper.PNG

  A standard car

• Diddy-kongHover.jpg

  The sluggish Hovercraft...

• Planebumper.PNG

  Racing with Planes

Tracks

Timber's Island Areas
Dino Domain
#	Track	Balloon Amount	Silver Coin Challenge Balloon Amount	Types of Transportation Available
1	Ancient Lake	1	6	C, H , P
2	Fossil Canyon	2	7	C , H , P
3	Jungle Falls	3	8	C , H , P
4	Hot Top Volcano	5	10	H , P
5	Boss - Tricky the Triceratops	5 or more once all 4 are beaten	10 or more once all 4 are beaten	C
Snowflake Mountain
#	Track	Balloon Amount	Silver Coin Challenge Balloon Amount	Types of Transportation Available
1	Everfrost Peak	2	10	H , P
2	Walrus Cove	3	11	C , H
3	Snowball Valley	6	14	C , H
4	Frosty Village	9	16	C , H, P
5	Boss - Bluey the Walrus	9 or more once all 4 are beaten	16 or more once all 4 are beaten	C
Sherbet Island
#	Track	Balloon Amount	Silver Coin Challenge Balloon Amount	Types of Transportation Available
1	Whale Bay	10	17	H
2	Crescent Island	11	18	C , H
3	Pirate Lagoon	13	20	H
4	Treasure Caves	16	22	C , H , P
5	Boss - Bubbler the Octopus	16 or more once all 4 are beaten	22 or more once all 4 are beaten	H
Dragon Forest
#	Track	Balloon Amount	Silver Coin Challenge Balloon Amount	Types of Transportation Available
1	Windmill Planes	16	23	C , H , P
2	Greenwood Village	17	24	C , H
3	Boulder Canyon	20	30	H
4	Haunted Woods	22	37	C , H
5	Boss - Smokey the Dragon	22 or more once all 4 are beaten	37 or more once all 4 are beaten	P
Future Fun Land
#	Track	Balloon Amount	Silver Coin Challenge Balloon Amount	Types of Transportation Available
1	Spacedust Alley	39	43	C , H , P
2	Darkmoon Carvern	40	44	C , H ,
3	Spaceport Alpha	41	45	C, H , P
4	Star City	42	46	C , H , P
5	Boss - Wizpig	---	46 or more once all 4 are beaten	P

Beating the Pig Wizard

File:WPIGNScreen.JPG

Wizpig, sewering payback to Diddy and Co.

Once Collecting the various amulets from Tricky, Bluey, Bubbler and Smokey, the Wizpig statue head's mouth will open and inside the opening Wizpig awaits to race. By letting the gas go on the various zippers, the racer can be sure of an easy win, but missing the zippers could cause them to lose the win.

The second Wizpig race will be Wizpig's undoing. From the start, his rocket is a little uneasy and get too close, it will act as a missile and the racer, with Wizpig, get set back. By collecting as much blue balloons as possible and zipping away from the rocket-jet pig, winning should not be doubtful. Unfortunately, his spaceship is too far good of aim and can easily set you back real far when the racer gets to that part. A good blue balloon should zip them past the notorious ship.

Other Balloons

File:Hellofriend.PNG

Taj , after his respectable defeat.

Taj's races and challenges

Taj will race and train the racer in many areas aside from selling you unlockables and helping them customize their car. He usually rides his Magic Carpet or stands in awe as the racer fulfills Taj's own wish. In return for the racers sucess in the challenge he'll give them a balloon.

Taj Challenges

• Car Race - Once the racer starts their game, they race Taj around in a circle with the car, following the black and white tokens. This is an act of training and their first golden balloon
• Hovercraft Race - Before the racer goes to beat Trixy again , the racer races Taj with the hovercraft around the island, following the tokens
• Plane Race - After Dino Domain is beaten , The racer races Taj in a Plane around the island following the tokens in a similar pattern to the Hovercraft race.
• Blowing out the Torches challenge - After Bubbler is defeated , Taj orders the racer to blow out the 9 torches on the island in 60 seconds.
• Taj Token Tussle - The racer races taj to roam around the island for ten Taj Tokens by following the arrows to their temporary locations. The first to ten tokens wins.

Balloon Pop Challenge

After the area's major boss is defeated (except Future Fun Land's) , they order the racer to get at least a bronze balloon in each of their four tracks. By using the Stylus , racers can pop the golden balloons scattered over each track. 50 Gold balloons are in each, and popping them can gain a rank (Bronze , Silver, and Gold)

Once the racer gets the bronze or up , the racer will receive a golden balloon for their first win at the challenge.

Rank amounts

• Dino Domain

Bronze - 24 balloons

Silver - 34 balloons

Gold - 50 balloons

File:Balloonchallenge.PNG

The Balloon Challenge count screen where the racer can keep track of how many balloons they've popped so far.

• Snowflake Mountain

Bronze - 34 balloons

Silver - 40 balloons

Gold - 50 balloons

• Sherbet Island

Bronze - 40 balloons

Silver - 45 balloons

Gold - 50 balloons

• Dragon Forest

Bronze - 40 balloons

Silver - 45 balloons

Gold - 50 balloons

• Future Fun Land

Bronze - 40 balloons

Silver - 45 balloons

Gold - 50 balloons

Differences Between Versions

Along with it's several new features Diddy Kong Racing DS has several notable differences between it and the original Nintendo 64 version. These differences include:

DKR - DKRDS
Vehicle Upgrades
#	N64 Version	DS Version
1	Taj has a face plate in the center grove of the island where a racer could honk a horn and summon him	Taj now owns a tree-surrounded Tent and is summoned by honking or tapping with the stylus
2	bananas were a source of top speed and collect 10 to get maximum speed, get hit by a weapon and the racer looses two of their bananas	Coins the bananas' place and the racer can collect a lot to buy some unlockable stuff from Taj
3	Banjo and Conker are lead characters and have decent speed and acceleration. Available at the begining	They are replaced with Tiny Kong and Dixie Kong, due to their ownership to Microsoft
4	All story detail lies in the strategy guide	A cut-scene to the storyline at the beginning
5	Wizpig and Taj are non-playable major characters	Wizpig and Taj are playable once unlocked
6	Trixie's second boss round has falling trees	Trixie's second boss round has no falling trees and is much easier
7	For the second Wizpig challenge, Wizpig's rocket malfunctions for no apparent reason in the closing segments	At the end race with the second Wizpig challenge, if the racer gets too close to Wizpig , his rocket starts to malfunction and they both are hurt. This gives the reason of his later rocket-failure when he's beaten
8	Cutscenes are elaborate and each character has unique voices and music	due to limited hand held abilities, the cutscenes are less impressive and duller, and the characters have squeaky cartoony or British - type voices that sound almost alike

Music and Four New Tracks!

Jungle Falls , Snowball Valley , Pirate Lagoon , Treasure Caves , Windmill Plains , and Spaceport Alpha have new background music. Spacedust Alley now has the old Spaceport Alpha music. The old music from Jungle Falls was moved to the credits.

Four new tracks, Thunder Cove , Meandering Mount , Splashdown Pass , and Strangled Shrine were added to the game

Aside from these differences the game remains relatively the same in gameplay, adventure mode and multiplayer mode also remain basically unchanged.

Playable Characters

• Diddy Kong
• Dixie Kong
• Tiny Kong
• Timber
• Bumper
• Tiptup
• Pipsy
• Krunch
• Drumstick (unlockable)
• T.T. (unlockable)
• Taj (unlockable)
• Wizpig (unlockable)

Non-Playable Characters

• Tricky
• Bubbler
• Bluey
• Smokey